Outlaw Train Read Online Free PDF Page A

But I made the offer and would be happy if you’d take it. It’ll give me the chance to talk to you a bit.”
    “Well, I will. You’re a good man, Luke Cable.”
    “I try.”
    A good meal was something that lifelong impoverished bachelor Dewitt Stamps seldom received, and he ate with such an intense concentration and seriousness that Luke struggled not to grin.
    “This is prime, Luke. Prime!”
    “Glad you like it, Dewitt. Now tell me what you were mulling over when I come upon you out there.”
    Dewitt sighed. “Luke, why would anybody want to see somebody like me fall back into the wrong kind of life?”
    “What do you mean?”
    Dewitt shared the story of Jimmy Wills’s attempts to tempt him with whiskey. “Why’d he do that, Luke? Why would he want to see me go wrong?”
    “Jimmy’s young, and he’s a fool. I don’t know what else to say. Makes me mad as hell that he’d do that.”
    “It ain’t right. People ought to want good things for other folk.”
    Luke replied, “Yeah. But a lot don’t.” He was thinking of Clara Ashworth. “Did you take the drink?”
    “I didn’t. I stood up against the temptation and he finally went and tossed the whiskey out the door. I won that round. Me and the Lord. But there’s a lot of wickedness in this world, and it discourages me,” Dewitt said. “It’s good that there’s folks like you who are willing to fight it.”
    “I don’t know if it’s worth it sometimes, Dewitt. I’m not sure I’d have agreed to fill in for Ben Keely if I’d known it would be so hard and he’d be gone so long. I wake up every day wondering who’s going to get drunk and hit some other gent, or beat up on his wife, or break something at the saloon. Or who might get shot, or take a shot at me. And all for such a little bit of money that it strains me just to be able to buy a meal or two from time to time. If I’d known, I’d have told Ben Keely to find somebody else to fill in for him while he went traipsing to Kentucky.”
    “Well, you should have knowed how it would be, having been his deputy before.”
    “I suppose. But one thing I couldn’t have known was how long he’d be gone. Ben was supposed to have been back more than a month ago. But I ain’t heard the first word from him, and have no notion what’s keeping him from coming back. I agreed to serve as acting marshal for a set time, and that time’s well past now. By all rights I should be free to quit, but that would leave the town with no peace officer, and I can’t do that.”
    “You know why I figure he ain’t come back? Teke Blevins making them threats against him.”
    “Nah. Not Ben. He’s no coward.”
    “Teke got out the word that he was going to kill Ben. And Teke is a man to be taken serious.”
    “The fact remains that Ben wouldn’t flee this town just because of threats. I know him too well to believe that.” Luke shifted in his chair, restless. “But I wish whatever is keeping him from coming back would go away. I’m ready to leave this marshaling business behind. I’m disappointed in myself,Dewitt. For a long time I thought I’d be a fine peace officer, but more and more I find myself wishing I was doing anything else but this job. I want to quit. I want to say good-bye to all this, head over to Ellsworth, and ask Sally James to marry me.”
    “Maybe you ought to do that. The county sheriff. He could take over for you, couldn’t he? Whether Ben is back or not? I mean, Wiles is in his county, even if he don’t work for the town. The people here are still citizens of Wiles County.”
    “Yeah, but you know as well as me that he’s never paid much attention to the town. Since Wiles has its own law enforcers, he gives his attention to the rest of the county.”
    “Well, if Wiles quit having its own marshal, maybe he’d have a different way of looking at it.” Dewitt stared at the tabletop. “I wish I could help you out somehow, Luke.”
    “Maybe you can.”
    Dewitt looked up. “Me?